When the male protagonist Frederick sits in the afternoon cafe, watching the coming and going of the hurrying, pale, proud and lonely women in coats and sables and puppies, looking lonely, As we have an erotic conversation with each of them, we can actually know that the extramarital affair, like the train of the timetable, will arrive on time in his empty and boring life.
This is the last of Rohmer's moral stories. Men have gone through numerous moral tests and finally arrived at marriage. Like all middle-class people, his marriage was happy and boring, and like his wife, he had a dignified face and a flat frame.
Frederick has his own business (a small company), a wife with a respectable and permanent career (a middle school teacher), and two new children, and in the eyes of this society he has a happy life, and he must maintain Such a happiness commensurate with his position. So, when Chloe, who had traveled to many countries and changed many lovers, rushed into his happy life, he categorically refused. He told his wife that it was a "woman who does things on impulse" and that "it is better to keep a safe distance".
He flirts with Chloe casually and repulsively, starting with just one more flirt, just like he does with the beauties in the office, only "a little deeper." But Chloe's nonchalant style and provocative zeal lead him into a deeper conflict.
"We'll meet in the evening."
"Oh, no, we can only arrange to meet in the afternoon."
When Chloe offered to meet in the evening, he again flatly declined. In his mind, this kind of date with Chloe can only be an adjustment to the afternoon break, just like a adjustment to his dull married life. He likes her and enjoys this kind of date, but that's about it. In his heart, there is a boundary between afternoon and evening. Afternoon is like this ambiguous gray area in marriage, while evening is the peachy but dangerous outside. Therefore, every critical moment, he was like a monk, saying "I love my wife" to Chloe - he is his grandson monkey, and he has to recite a spell to himself every time.
As long as you indulge and let go, the wild horse of life will always take you in unexpected directions, not to mention Chloe is a romantic and carefree woman. She always wears brightly colored clothes, she can go to bed with a man she doesn't love, or she can abandon a man who loves her to the death, she submits to her own desires and willfulness. Such a woman is provocative, so Frederick gradually fell in love with her; but such a woman is also dangerous, because she will eventually demand.
The film is so delicate in describing this "you in and I out" tango-like extramarital affair. Chloe's teasing became more apparent each time. In the clothing store, she shows black underwear and looming nudity, and Frederick strokes her and gives up; in her rented apartment, Frederick strokes her naked back, and the camera breathes here for a while, He talks about his wife again, gives up; in her bathroom, she asks him to wipe her, he tries to take off his jumper but thinks of his son, and he finally escapes, back to his wife.
Lust is the ultimate tease, but it's not really lust that gets him into a moral dilemma, it's his bland life. There are more than one hints in the film. The beginning of the film is Frederick's own account: "Since getting married, all women have been attractive to me." When he was picking clothes for Chloe, he said, 'My wife doesn't think I'm a carnal person. So, it's not how perfect Chloe's body is, it's this fresh body that attracts her because he loves his wife, but he no longer desires her. Here, carnal desire is no longer just carnal desire, but a symbol of both life inside and outside the city. Life inside the besieged city was already so boring that he lost interest and no longer longed for his wife's body; outside the besieged city, it was so fresh. It is not desire that stirs him, but the bland, well-formed middle-class life, the "happy" life he must maintain.
Yeah, marriage is so boring, life is just choosing a crib in the mall, or looking around with a smile at a friend's cocktail party, that's why extramarital relationships are so exciting. Listen to her tell wild love stories in foreign countries, watch her take off her skirt to reveal sexy underwear in the fitting room of the clothing store, lie on your lap in the setting sun of the small bedroom, and wear it in the bathroom. The face of the fragrant rain and dew kissing you... This is the beautiful scenery outside the track where all men will feel their hearts rip.
This is not the moral confusion faced by the hero alone, it is for all married men. As his partner said, he always attends banquets without his wife, so that he can strike up a conversation with strange and beautiful women. They're both looking for beautiful, attractive, irresponsible flirting outside of marriage.
Therefore, the male protagonist is not particularly wretched and despicable. In fact, we may have to affirm the male protagonist's fragile but undefended morality. He was always tempted, he always embraced temptation, he could always make mistakes, but he always ended up not making mistakes. When the temptation was so well-dressed, he could still hold on and run home and say, "It makes me uneasy in the afternoon." You know, the temptation he faced was exempt, because his girlfriend said that he was not responsible for the illegitimate child, nor did he responsible for her.
Rohmer uses only minimalist characters and plots in the film. This concentration is combined with a lot of dialogue to show the characters' personalities at a glance. The male lead doesn't say, "I'm conflicted." He just strokes Chloe's naked back and murmurs, "I love my wife." And then we know, he's conflicted. Here, the text is not a Woody Allen-esque intellectual mumbling or a show of talent, but the character being himself.
View more about Love in the Afternoon reviews
